Manipur Muslim Students remain stranded in Gujarat
Source: IT News / Raju Vernekar

Vadodara, June 08 2020: Due to obvious lack of coordination between Gujarat and Manipur Governments, nearly 200 Manipur Muslim students who were not accommodated on a Shramik special train that left Bharuch (Gujarat) for Manipur on May 23, still remain stranded at Tandalia, in Vadodara Gujarat, with no sign of sending back to their native place.

Nearly 21 students aged between 14 and 24, studying in Darul Uloom in Tandalja, were to travel to Manipur by Shramik special train that left Bharuch station, about 80 km from Vadodara on 23 May.

But little did they know that their arduous journey had just begun.

They were asked to pay Rs 6,510 as bus fare - Rs 310 each - from Tandalia to Bharuch instead of the government picking up the tab.

Reportedly there was no nodal officer to guide them during their two-hour trip.

When they reached Bharuch station (339 kms from Mumbai) much before the scheduled 11 pm departure of the train, another over 140 more students from other Madrassas joined them.

They were made to stand in a queue for long time on the platform with all valid documents - Aadhar card, confirmed ticket and corona-negative certificate - ready in their hands.

However, the young seminarians, already fagged out from a long wait, were thunderstruck when the 1,200-capacity Manipur-bound train suddenly chugged out of the Bharuch station at 11.55 pm with 750 passengers without any railway official explaining them why they were left out.

One of the students Kamaluddin Manipuri (24) of Tandalja Darul Uloom, said that some of the coaches of the train were empty, but for some mysterious reasons, they were told not board the train.

After the train left Bharuch station, the hungry students wandered on the platform in the dead of night to get some food.

But they could not get it.

Later they were taken to a shelter house at Bhayli in Vadodara by bus.

They were told to stay put till another train was arranged for them.

Fortunately when Mufti Arif Hakim, Principal and Managing Trustee of the Darul Uloom, came to know about the developments, he brought back the students to the seminary by arranging special cars.

Zuber Gopalani, the community leader said that a lack of coordination between Gujarat and Manipur governments led to this fiasco.

Many see this incident as a bid to humiliate Congress MP Ahmed Patel, who had been instrumental in sending migrants to their native place by Shramik special trains earlier from Bharuch.

Now the students hope that another Shramik train to Manipur will be organised so that they could return to their homes.

Official sources said that these students will be accommodated on the train scheduled to leave for Nagaland shortly.

While the Delhi Association of Manipur Muslim Students has condemned the incident, the All Manipur Muslim Students' Organisation has demanded an inquiry into the reasons why the seminarians were not allowed to board the train at the Bharuch station.

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